The last poll from CBS that showed Americans rejecting the “extreme rhetoric” blame game was taken in the first couple of days after the shooting.  This Gallup poll for USA Today was conducted on Tuesday, with plenty of time for the media’s “magical thinking,” as Allahpundit put it, to mold public opinion.  It’s still no sale:

Most Americans reject the idea that inflammatory political language by conservatives should be part of the debate about the forces behind the Arizona shooting that left six people dead and a congresswoman in critical condition, a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll finds.

A 53% majority of those surveyed call that analysis mostly an attempt to use the tragedy to make conservatives look bad. About a third, 35%, say it is a legitimate point about how dangerous language can be.

And there is little sense that stricter gun control laws in Arizona might have averted the tragedy. Only one in five say they would have prevented the shooting; 72% say tighter controls wouldn’t have prevented it.

To no one’s surprise, Democrats were more likely to claim it as a legitimate point, with 52% supporting the argument — but even 35% of Democrats think it is an attempt to attack conservatives.  Independents have just the reverse reaction, with 36% thinking the point is legitimate and 53% believing it to be intended to make conservatives look bad.  Republicans split 15/75 on the question.

On gun control, there is much more consensus that it would have done no good in Tucson.  Only a third of Democrats believe it would have made a difference, and 58% think stricter gun laws would have made no difference.  Independents split 19/72, and Republicans 8/89. If anyone wonders why very little has been said about gun control in the wake of the shooting, this should make it clear; gun control has stopped being a mainstream political position.

These are remarkable findings just three days after the tragedy.  Gallup concludes that Americans largely are not looking for scapegoats but are instead “laying responsibility for the shootings squarely on the alleged killer, perhaps due to his reported psychological problems.”  Let’s hope that’s the case.